As the day ended yesterday I could thank God over and over for His Grace. The cases during the day were tremendous evidence of this. The added bonus for me was a couple I’ve been seeing for a little over two months came in for their appointment. They were on the verge of filing for divorce when they first came; both young with a young child, but both hurt deeply by each other. In this time they have been very committed to following through on their assignments. When they arrived yesterday one could easily see how much progress they’ve made. As we talked this through they were able to describe the skills they’ve learned to embed in their daily lives. Love and Respect are growing and roots are developing to ground them. I couldn’t help but tear up thanking God for this blessing after the morning.
As I was journaling this morning I was thanking God for His abundant Grace. When I got to the place of asking what He wanted me to know from Him for today, it was the reminder to do my part but to remember to let Him do His. That meant for me to gather the prayer warriors as I rebuke evil’s attempts. Let God have the weight of the issues at hand for He has no problem carrying them and destroying them. If I try to do that I will falter quickly. I know this, but yesterday was a good day of reminders with application.
Today is a day when evil is fighting to win but the truth of Christ’s work on the Cross will prevail! There are two court cases this morning taking place where tremendous damage could result from the outcomes. In both cases the evil is wanting to win. I am a witness in one of the cases and as I got up early this morning I could instantly sense the weight of the evil. It caught me off-guard at first but as I began my devotions it became abundantly clear. As I journaled and asked Jesus what He wanted me to know from Him for today, I began to write the message. But, the message was odd and then I knew the voice I heard was not of Christ’s Holy Spirit. I crossed all of it out and began to rebuke this evil in the very Name of JESUS CHRIST my RISEN LORD AND SAVIOR! He then gave me the message I could trust knowing His Voice.
I texted my prayer warrior Lois asking for prayer support and her response was: “I am claiming Isaiah 54:17 ‘…no weapon formed against Earnie, (the one man) and (the one lady) will prosper!!! It is written!!!’ “. The “one man” and the “one lady” are the victims of this evil.
It is amazing Who God is! Walking with Him today is another privilege. I praise Him even now for the outcomes which He already knows and is taking care of. PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!
It is an interesting thing to begin to think about obedience. When God pointed out to me yesterday about obedience being part of opportunity rather than sheer discipline, I could hardly wrap my mind around it. It is times like this that I recognize all over again the power of a child’s upbringing. Discipline as given by dad was an ugly thing. I swore I’d never be like this. But, the lingering effects of it have impacted so much of how I’ve lived and thought. Obedience was something to simply do even if it were hugely resented. This is how it was with dad. God is so patient teaching me how beautiful obedience is in obeying HIM. Obeying God’s leading in our lives gives satisfaction, gratitude that can not be measured. I love this.
It is just amazing to me all over again living in the Light of Jesus Christ. Getting to obey God’s Holy Spirit as He nudges is a privilege and not a burden. Wow!, the things God wants me/us to know and live out never come to an end until we reach the end of our earthly living. I want to stay obedient throughout this rich time in my life!
For a while now I’ve been perplexed about how to make my worship time in the early mornings rich enough to sustain me throughout the day. Some days this is not a problem at all. Others, however, are tough. All of the steps one learns to keep Christ first in everything one does seem to vanish in some moments of a day. It is then the simple step of obedience needs to step in. Putting what one knows into action is called obedience. I had taken the step of listening to worship music while I have my devotions as the right thing to do each and every devotional time. What I’d found however is the beauty of it was being lost. It was turning into something I needed to do rather than a blessing.
This morning as I was journaling about obedience I asked Jesus to help me understand this dilemma. He simply asked me to take the word obedience out of the context of disciple and put it into the context of opportunity. Listening to worship music during my devotions was never intended to be a habit. It is an opportunity. My spirit will sometimes need a boost to focus and when that is the case the worship music will do this. Other times the simple act of journaling, reading the bible and knowing God’s presence is quite sufficient.
I’m going to start taking the term obedience and using it connected to opportunity from this point forward. Thank YOU JESUS!
Today is a quiet one. Outside of church and then a practice for a song we are doing tomorrow for a memorial service, the day is free of planned responsibilities. It is nice to have a day like this. The weather is beautiful so one can simply enjoy the beauty of life around us. I think the Lord’s Day is suppose to be like this. I’m going to enjoy it. I hope and pray you will and can enjoy yours. God is so, so GOOD!
God is never done working with His creation and how blessed we are that He isn’t done. His love for all of us is infinite. Working with ones who are deeply troubled with their present life truly opens your eyes to so much that sin does trying to draw God’s kids away from Him. But, God never leaves us nor forsakes us. He waits for us to see just beyond the hurt of the present. There is HOPE in our tomorrows for God is there. I never want to forget this and to share this message for others.
This morning I had another awakening. Several months ago now my journey took on the task of finding out who this Holy Spirit is and how He works with me. I’ve known about the Holy Spirit in our lives and the Gift He is when we accept Christ into our lives, but just Who is He?
I began reading again The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee and this was enlightening/helping. The curriculum I’ve been using brought out the significance of our spirit and our need to commit our spirit to The Holy Spirit’s leadership so our walk/talk/self-control is fully led by The Holy Spirit within us. All of this makes perfect sense, but doing it–well, that’s another story.
As I wrote yesterday’s journal entry which I mentioned here yesterday, I wrote that I should obey The Holy Spirit’s leading in my life. Then I was nudged to change should to will. Today as I journaled I was able to separate Christ’s role for me from The Holy Spirit’s role in me. When Christ was here on earth He had The Holy Spirit in him just as we do. He learned to obey Him and Trust Him. The role Christ played for us was His continuous obedience to God’s Holy Spirit leading His actions or his not acting. The Holy Spirit was in Him and He showed us how to use this Gift–for obedience to His nudges/voice. As I write this I realize how long I’ve known this, but haven’t made it a solid practice. I’ve wanted to sort out the nudges I obey from those I fear to obey thinking they can be set aside. Someone else would do them who wouldn’t be afraid to do so.
This morning it became clear I am to do just as Christ did–obey The Holy Spirit fully. That is spiritual freedom. Good grief! Sometimes I think I am such a slow learner! But, on the other hand, I’m glad I’m still learning. God is so patient and faithful!
As I began my journaling this morning I was reflecting on Christ’s presence during the day yesterday. Leaning into Him and trusting Him seemed easy. When the topic of fear and helplessness came up in sessions it was tied to childhood hurt in the life of the one seeking help. We were able to point this out and how to take different steps of trust rather than steps into the fear.
I was thanking God for the insights yesterday from His Holy Spirit when He asked me when I was going to take His insights personally? That little person I was helping others see in themselves which led the fear they were seeking to overcome, was also something I know well. However, in this morning’s journaling God was pointing out where I still have some of this myself. As I concluded my journaling I thanked Jesus for His insights and that I’d likely need to do just as He pointed out. It was then I was addressed one more time about “likely needed”. God wasn’t making a suggestion to me, I needed to do this, not likely needed to. I then asked for forgiveness and wrote that I will do this. Building my own complete TRUST is still growing. Little Earnie still shows up in me at times and growing him into me today will continue likely for the rest of my life.
God is not letting up on my need to stay focused on learning to let His Holy Spirit be my operational spirit. This topic of spirit vs mind came up in a couple of yesterday’s sessions as well as our Celebrate Recovery’s meeting last night. It wasn’t that I was bringing it up, it was simply ones confessing their inability to control their actions submitting to temptations. Because of this, we talked about the strength provided to us when we submit ourselves to The Holy Spirit and let Him deal with the temptation and the source of “power” behind it.
As I was journaling this morning I was writing more about my own struggle with this enormous change I want so much to understand. As I journaled this morning I told Jesus how hard I tried to live fully for Him and my own difficulties I find when battling on my own strength. He then asked me why I don’t put that same effort into submission to The Holy Spirit? As soon as I heard this I wondered why it has taken me so long to do just this? I know this is not a single event in time. It is a daily submission and sometimes, many times during a day.
Unlearning fighting in our own strength is huge/monumental for me. I have fought a lifetime this way. Even though I’ve known what I’ve written, putting it into daily practice has never been easy. But, Christ’s message today to put this effort into the change hit me like never before. So today, I’m submitted fully to letting God’s Gift of The Holy Spirit be my lead and my strength.
As I go into today I do so with a full counseling schedule. It is an odd feeling for each time I’ve had a break from them I have this anxious sense that I’m starting all over again as though I’ve never conducted one. I was journaling about this when I looked at my card that has the steps to take when we are in temptation. I hadn’t thought about this insecure sense as being a temptation. Yet, as I looked at the steps on the card, the one that hit me was Amputate. It was then that I realized this sense of insecurity is something Satan wants to grab ahold of and use it to cripple me into walking away from this ministry.
I took all of this to Jesus and for the first time thought deeply about my mind vs my spirit. The power to overcome evil is found in surrendering our spirit to God’s Holy Spirit. God is Spirit and His Holy Spirit is His Gift to us. It is in this power that we overcome temptations that want to own us. I’ve lived my life wanting my mind to be powerful to keep emotions under control. This very morning God was showing me that in surrendering my spirit to His Holy Spirit I can trust and believe that whatever I’m stepping into He is already there and those insecurities can easily be replaced with confidence that His Holy Spirit will lead these sessions.
Now, I smile as I conclude this blog. God is going to not only be present, but He will be the Counselor. I get to be His servant. WOW, our GOD IS AMAZING!
Earnie Lewis 